Newey's Move to Ferrari: The Dawn of Triumph for the Scuderia?

Adrian Newey’s potential shift to Ferrari could herald a new era of triumph for the Scuderia as rumors intensify.

Will Adrian Newey join Ferrari? It seems to be his intended destination, but the exact date remains uncertain.

According to several sources in England and Italy, his wife Amanda has contacted no less than four real estate agencies near Maranello (the headquarters of Ferrari) to find the couple’s new home. Unless the Neweys are planning to enjoy retirement close to the red cars, this is a good indication of his intentions.

Newey is expected to speak with Christian Horner this week about the terms of his departure, news that caught the team off guard as suggested by their statement. Red Bull claimed to be unaware of such intentions to leave, without denying them.

Newey has a contract until the end of 2025 but wishes to leave as soon as possible in order to work on Ferrari’s 2026 project. It seems Christian Horner has no reason to make life easy for him and might sideline him for the entire 2025 season and then put him on notice for the 2026 season! It remains to be seen what arguments Newey will use to counter this.

In Italy, the news continues to be widely commented on. Newey is expected to put Ferrari back on the path to victory in the championship, according to former Williams driver, the Italian Riccardo Patrese.

Patrese and Newey worked together at Williams in the early 1990s, with the Italian winning four of his six victories with the team as Nigel Mansell’s teammate.

“Adrian is in a league of his own as an engineer, and if he comes, Ferrari will win. We just need to see if he will really come. I know him very well personally, we’ve been friends since my time at Williams, and I know he is very fond of his home in Britain.”

“That’s why I’m not sure if he would leave Red Bull so easily and go to Ferrari. I would be happy if he went to Ferrari, as I would then see him more often in Italy. But wherever he goes, that team will win.”

Another Italian, former Ferrari driver Ivan Capelli, warned that the Scuderia must break the bank to hope to recruit Adrian Newey if the F1 design legend decided to leave Red Bull.

For Ferrari, the salary to offer Newey would necessarily be higher than the 10 million euros per year he would earn at Red Bull. He would automatically become one of the top three highest earners at Ferrari, excluded from the capped budget, which wouldn’t be a problem for the Scuderia at this stage, as they currently don’t have a star engineer being paid so generously.

Capelli worked with Newey at Leyton House, where the technical guru began his F1 career before achieving success with Williams and McLaren in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

And the Italian believes it is unlikely that Newey would join Ferrari unless the team makes an offer too good to refuse.

“To be honest, it’s unlikely he will move to Italy unless there is a financial proposal that would overshadow all others. Due to habit, his conceptualization of work and mental organization, and the way he’s accustomed to it, I still see him very much rooted in England.”

“He is a man with 40 years of experience, who, even during the last rule change, was able to interpret the right data immediately—finding solutions to what for others had become an Achilles’ heel, like porpoising, because he had experienced these situations 35 years ago with ground effect cars.”

“He possesses a wealth of experience, knowledge, and beyond his personal dystonia, a work organization that borders on perfection.”

“What sets Adrian apart from others is his ability to evaluate his work in a very sterile manner.”

“Last year, he won 21 out of 22 races and said, ‘well, this car no longer has potential for development, let’s start over.’ And from a conceptual point of view, he created an entirely new car for 2024, which surprised everyone. Starting from a blank sheet of paper and beginning again never scares him.”

Newey’s Move to Ferrari: The Dawn of Triumph for the Scuderia?. Newey’s Move to Ferrari: The Dawn of Triumph for the Scuderia? f1 2025 Newey’s Move to Ferrari: The Dawn of Triumph for the Scuderia?